A Repeat of History
by Bishonen no Hime
Summary: Integra and Alucard have a conversation about history repeating itself through the two of them. Animeset at the end of the series.


Okay, um, this is anime-set at the end of the series. I know, I know, it is s an overused plot platform, but it works so well. Anyway, more A&I than AxI really. This was one of those things that wrote itself, I'm just here for the sleep depravation.

Also, this story makes the assumption that Alucard is Count Dracula and that Count Dracula is Vlad Tepes.

'_This is telepathy people.'_

----A Repeat of History---- 

"Do you realize how terribly ironic this is?" He asked her cryptically was he faded through the dank stonewalls of her cell as he had every night since her imprisonment. If anything, Alucard provided her with a way to tell the time of day. Integra merely leaned back against the wall from where she sat upon her bed. She had no intention of falling into the verbal trap that he was trying to set. Seeing that she wasn't going to respond how he had hoped Alucard tried a different ploy.

"I don't believe I have ever experienced the sensation of deja vu before now. I was thinking about it earlier and it is quite amusing."

"You find everything amusing Alucard." She told him, carefully avoiding the subject of his amusement.

"But this is different." She could hear the grin in his voice. She disdainfully opened her eyes to give him an icy glare.

"Since you aren't going to leave me alone, what? What do you find so amusing Alucard?" His grin merely deepened, his lips receding and making his canines appear longer as they pressed into his lower lip. Integra scolded herself mentally when she realized that she was now showing interest in the subject so he was going to say no more. Not without getting his entertainment from her first.

The painful squeal of old mental interrupted their conversation as the key was turned in the lock to her cell. Alucard was gone before the door even began to move, leaving Integra to watch a servant bring in her evening meal while a guard stood at the door to make sure she did not try anything. She purposefully locked her eyes on the man arranging her food on the table, giving him an intense glare as he immaculately laid out the utensils. He was barely a man, no older then nineteen years of age; he was probably under-study to the cook. She knew that she was succeeding in unnerving the boy when she saw his slightly shaking hand hesitate to put down the knife. He quickly hustled out of the cell once he was done, not daring to look back towards her. Integra stood from her bunk stiffly and stepped towards her meal as the guard shut and re-locked the door.

She looked uninterestedly at the appealingly embellished salmon fillet and side dishes. No doubt the food was of the highest quality as was befit a prisoner of noble blood and that was the very idea that dissolved any allure it had once had. Instead she lifted the bottle of wine and proceeded to twist the stopper stuck securely in the neck of the frosted bottle.

"Here." Alucard took the bottle from her before she could say anything and continued where she had been interrupted. The loud crack of the cork echoed loudly in the small room, the porous cylinder bounced off the ceiling and disappeared somewhere else in the room. With fluid grace he filled her flute up to the brim with the red liquid and sat the bottle back on the table. She suspiciously gazed at him as he leaned against the table, his eyes looking at her expectantly.

"Why so solicitous thing evening Alucard?" She asked him with feigned amiability in her voice as she sank slowly down into the stiff chair. "Are you trying to get me drunk for any particular reason?" He chuckled at her, a rough, resonant sound from somewhere deep in his chest and his gaze never left her as she began to unhappily eat her dinner.

"No. And weren't you just thinking about the food's demeaning properties a few moments ago?"

"If I don't eat I will not be in any condition to rebuild my organization when I get out." She paused to chew a small portion of fish before continuing, "Plus, this stuff is barely passable when it's warm, I don't want to even imagine it cold."

Alucard watched her eat her meal quietly, his eyes taking in the short cutting motions she made with her knife as she cut the salmon. After a few moments he began to wander seemingly aimlessly around her small room as she continue to eat.

"Don't you get bored in here, day after day?" He asked scornfully as he continued to prowl the room.

"Unlike you Alucard, I do not need to have something to do constantly to keep myself entertained." She sipped the wine, shrugging indifferently after a moment's reflection on its flavor.

"So was that a 'No'?" Alucard roguishly inquired as he came to a stop in front of her dining table. She gave in an exasperated look as she sat her fork and down on the plate.

"It was both. This gives me time to reflect and to think on things that I would have otherwise not had the chance. But they also say that a person needs interaction with others or they begin to go mad."

"So you believe yourself to be going mad?" He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the mental images that thought provoked. One of the corners of her lips twitched upward briefly.

"Of course not. After all, I converse with you regularly. Every night as a matter of fact." She picked up her fork again and resumed eating.

"And you don't think I could have an adverse effect on your mental health?" He asked her, laughing as he waited for her to swallow the mouthful she had just put in her mouth.

"If I was a normal person I would have cracked years ago Alucard, you know that."

"That is true Master. However, that also means that I _could _have an adverse effect on your sanity." He stood away from the table and continued to pace again. "So, aside from me, who isn't exactly good for you, there is no one else for you interact with. You're underground so birds are out of the question, but there aren't even rats down here." The loud clang of the metal utensils angrily hitting the ceramic plate was his answer.

"There are **NO **similarities between my imprisonment and yours when you were human. None what so ever." She told him coldly. She had made it a point to study is background as soon as she had found out exactly who her father's secret really was. She did it for no other reason to than to give her some footing in their constant verbal sparring. While she couldn't read minds, she could read books and they had told her enough.

"Are you sure of that?" He looked back at her over his shoulder. "You were doing your duty, what your position required you to do. What do you think I was imprisoned for?" He leaned across the table until he was face to face with her.

"Butchering your own people, burning the poor alive, terrorizing the clergy. Take your pick." She stated unwaveringly seemingly immune to his proximity.

"I was fighting the Turks. Protecting my lands and my people to the best of my abilities at the time. My first wife even committed suicide for that cause." His rough voice had a twinge of seriousness attempting to cloak itself in his usual mocking tone.

"Oh? I just thought she was mad." She asked him snidely.

"Again, testimony to my abilities to dement a person." He leaned back from her, laughing.

"So she was insane." Integra entwined her fingers together in front of her as she watched him through hooded eyes.

"Perhaps a little. Have you ever thought about all the similarities between yourself and my human life?" Integra responded with a derisive snort.

"I try not to think about us in the same sentence." Integra blinked and Alucard was behind her, his hands seeping cold through the layers of clothing where they griped her shoulders. Integra stiffened reflexively as the touch, her body locking up when his lips brushed her ear.

"At the age of thirteen we were both taken from the company of our fathers, though through different circumstances." The gruffness of his voice tickled the fine hairs of on her ear forcing Integra to still a shiver that tried to sweep down her spine. "Members of our immediate families tried to usurp and kill us." Integra felt one of his hands run itself through her hair, the motion almost possessive. "Betrayed," he whispered, "imprisoned."

"Then you married into the Hungarian nobility," Integra stood, jerking herself out of his grip and walking across the room, "fathered two sons, regained you're position for a short time before you were again usurped but this time you were assassinated by your own boyars. Or so the history books say." When she turned to look at him again he was grinning wildly at her.

"Obviously they missed something that happened in there." He grinned as he approached her.

"Obviou-" Integra was cut short when Alucard's countenance suddenly changed into a snarl.

"Damnit." He growled before disappearing, leaving Integra bewildered for a moment before she again heard the sound of a key in the lock of her door. The heavy door swung open to reveal two finely dressed men on the other side; one of them carrying a briefcase, the other holding only his hat. They stepped fully into the room and walked to its center, the man with briefcase looking directly at her. If he thought anything about her disheveled and unclean appearance his expression told her nothing.

"Integral Hellsing?" She nodded to hide the wince at being addressed without her title.

"Her Majesty wishes to speak with you. Would you come with us please?" She nodded again and walked with them out the door. Her guards came with her of course, one walking in front of her and the other behind. She no longer cared about the guards however, or the well-to-do men leading them when she felt the first breeze she'd felt in close to a year's time caress her face as they were crossing the courtyard. Integra stopped and left her eyes drift shut as the gentle air shifted its way through her hair and the sunshine warmed her skin.

'_So, will you trust these boyars again?'_ His voice drifted into her mind, his voice had returned to its usual mocking tone.

'_Do you really think this is history repeating itself Alucard?' _She asked him instead of answering.

'_Yes.'_ He drew out the last letter into a low hiss. Integra felt herself fully smile in what was probably months.

'_Good. Then shut up and let me die when it's my time. If I rise from the dead, you have_ _my permission to gloat.'_ His malicious laughter filled her head.

'_I'll hold you to that, Master.'_

boyars – noblemen

R&R, Please tell me what you guys think.


End file.
